Some Irish Netflix users will see subscription prices increase

Your wallet looks set to take a hit as Netflix increases prices for some plans. Image: sithhiphong/Shutterstock

Many film and TV aficionados will be seeing an increase in their monthly Netflix bill.

Following recent announcements of price increases for US and UK customers, Netflix has announced prices will be also be going up in Ireland.

If you’re a subscriber to the 1S (or one screen) plan, you won’t be affected as this will remain at €7.99 per month. If you are subscribed to either the 2S or 4S plan, you’ll see slight bumps in the monthly charges. The 2S plan has increased by €1 to €10.99, and the 4S plan has increased by €2 to €13.99.

None of the features are changing, and up to five people can still set up profiles from within the same account, but if your Netflix account-holders like to watch their shows at the same time, you’ll be feeling the slight sting of this price increase.

Netflix investing in original content

The increase is the first announced by the company since May 2014, in order to expand the range of content to devour.

Since entering the European market in 2012, Netflix has invested $2bn in European productions from original content to co-produced shows, and the number of titles available to watch in Ireland has increased by 218pc over the past five years.

In recent years, Netflix has funnelled a lot of cash into producing original content such as Orange Is The New Black and House Of Cards, so this price increase could be offsetting its increasing production bill.

The increases will go into effect immediately for new customers, while existing users will get 30 days’ notice before they are affected by the new billing plans.

Rapid subscriber growth

According to Statista, in the second quarter of 2017 Netflix had 103.9m subscribers worldwide, with 51.92m of them residing in the US. Huge growth has been seen in the company in just a year. For the same time period in 2016, subscribers globally numbered 83.18m.

A Netflix spokesperson said: “From time to time, Netflix plans and pricing are adjusted as we add more exclusive TV shows and movies, introduce new product features and improve the overall Netflix experience to help members find something great to watch even faster.”